


The Way I Was

by greyone01



Series: Damerey Week 2018 [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: DameRey, F/M, Jakku, JediPilot, damereyweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-01 22:37:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16293143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyone01/pseuds/greyone01
Summary: The scavenger brings the best pilot in the galaxy to the cold dark bowels of the Imperial Super Star Destroyer Ravager.Day 1 of Damerey Week 2018





	The Way I Was

**Author's Note:**

> Damerey Week Day 1 prompt: cold

It was cold at the depths of the downed stardestroyer. Cold and dark. The bright sun and the heat of the Jakku desert do not reach the lowermost levels of the ship, making the air musty and chilly. Two pairs of footsteps echoed loudly as a Resistance pilot and a Jedi made their way through the maze of corridors of the old ship.

“Kriff, Rey, how did you not get lost in this thing?” 

“I didn’t go this deep right away, Poe. I started in the area close to where there was still light, I only started going farther and deeper when I started running out of things to trade.”

They walked in silence for the next couple of meters, before Poe spoke up again. “Unbelievable,” he muttered. “You were only a kid!” He shivered at the thought of Rey as a young girl navigating through the almost pitch black passages. 

“Fear takes a backseat when you’re starving,” Rey’s voice was barely a whisper. There was a hint of sadness in her tone, which she tried to hide by teasing him. “You scared, Commander?”

“Hell, yes,” Poe readily replied, not bothering with the bravado. He did not miss what Rey was attempting to hide. 

“Do you want me to hold your hand?”

He knew she was still teasing him, but he could also feel that she was starting to feel a bit distraught. His hand found hers, and he was not really surprised with how cold her hand felt. He held her hand firmly, trying to warm it with his own. “Why don’t we go back now?”

Rey seemed to hesitate, before relenting. She began to lead him back to where they came from. She didn’t say a word, but she kept a firm hold of his hand. She was grateful that it was too dark for them to see each other’s faces clearly, allowing her to freely let go of silent tears. She hadn’t anticipated how out of sorts this venture would make her feel, and she can’t deny how comfortingly grounding it was to have Poe holding her hand. She had always felt oddly safe whenever she’s with him, and now was certainly not an exception.

Just as the darkness start to give way to light, Poe stopped on his tracks. Reflexively, Rey half-turned to look at him, realizing too late that he would see that she had been crying. Not that it mattered. He took one look at her before pulling her in his arms. Then the dam broke, and she was sobbing on his shoulder. He didn’t attempt to say any comforting words, he just held her until the sobs subsided, and he continued to hold her as she was simply leaning against him. She kept her face buried on his shoulder, no second thoughts about keeping her guard down. He was a bit taken aback by this glimpse of her vulnerability, and he knew he will continue to hold her for as long as she wants him to.

“Thank you, Poe,” Rey said softly, finally lifting her head from his shoulder, but not pulling away. Keeping an arm around her waist, his other hand went up to cup her cheek, his thumb gently caressing her cheek. She closed her eyes as he pressed his lips to her forehead. 

“Why did we go back here, Rey?” he asked after a while. “Why did you ask me to come back with you?” When she asked him to go with her to her old hunting grounds, he readily agreed without asking why. Truth be told, he saw it as a chance to be alone with her, and with how things had been going whenever they were alone, he was wanting to spend more and more time alone with her. They seemed to be moving on from talking about mundane things to spirited banter, exchanging playful punches and nudges that sometimes would have them standing just a bit too close to each other. A couple of times there’s been an unmistakable shift in the air between them, finding themselves looking into each other’s eyes, pupils wide-blown and just a little bit breathless. Something always came up to break the spell, and they’d be a bit awkward around each other, but it won’t take long for them to smoothly go back to the easy friendship that they had.

“I wanted to show you how it was for me before I found out about the Force,” she explained. “I need you to know where I came from.”

Poe pulled back a little, just so he could look at her. “I already know that. You didn’t have to go through all this.”

Rey shook her head. “No, Poe, I did. I needed you to really know. Because I need you to understand, to really know me. This is the way I grew up, and every single day from the time I was left here, I’ve fought to survive. Alone. I’ve had to rely on only myself for so long, and I’ve never really had anyone look after me until I met you and Finn and Leia.”

“Okay,” Poe said, feeling nervous. From how she was going, Rey was either going to tell him something he’s been desperately hoping for, or something he was absolutely dreading.

“I’m trying my best to adjust to that, and I think I’m sort of getting better at it, but there’ll still be times that I might try to push you away or shut you out. I’m not using this as an excuse for that, but I need you to understand. And sometimes, I’ll need someone to remind me about all of this.”

Poe’s hand dropped from her cheek to her waist. He looked concerned as she felt his arms tighten around her. Rey’s arms snaked around his neck, instantly buoying his spirits. Her face was mere inches away when she softly said her next words. “I don’t want to be alone ever again, but I don’t want to be with just anyone. I want to be with someone who understands me, who knows and accepts the real me.”

“Can I be that someone for you?” Poe asked just as softly.

Rey nodded. That much she was sure of. She wanted him to be. While she found an ally in Finn and kinship with Leia, with Poe it was different. It was like finding a long-lost treasure, and somehow, she knew the moment she met him that the wait was over. At first she thought it was just physical attraction and admiration, because, after all, she spent most of her life idolizing an unknown Rebel pilot, and finally there he was. The more time they spent together, the more she realized it went far deeper than that. He felt like home to her, and with him she felt safe and valued. She looked at him timidly. “If you want to.”

“I’d love to.”

She’ll never know if she was the one to close the distance between them or if it was him, or maybe they both did. Not that it mattered. She knew she belonged with him, she chose to belong to him. He knew he was a goner the moment he saw her lift those rocks, and when she took the hand he offered on their first meeting, he knew she captured so much more than that. It took all their lives for their paths to finally cross, and never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined that it would be in the dark cold belly of a fallen Imperial destroyer where they’ll finally concede to the forces that brought them together, to carry on with the rest of their journey with each other.


End file.
